


standing on a precipice

by fleurting



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: Commercials, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 14:40:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14191215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurting/pseuds/fleurting
Summary: The Ozark Highlands branch shoots a commercial. It goes exactly as well as could be expected.





	standing on a precipice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elegantstupidity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elegantstupidity/gifts).



> For the sake of this fic Jeff is still district manager and Kelly and Jonah broke up at the end of "Amnesty" instead of deciding to live together.
> 
> Elegantstupidity, you mentioned the idea of a commercial in your letter and I immediately fell in love with that idea. This goes in a slightly different direction that your prompt but I hope you enjoy it anyway!
> 
> My everlasting love and gratitude to L for looking this over for me.

The break room is abuzz with chatter, as it always is, when Jonah walks into the break room, but this time it’s different, everyone having the same conversation, or, argument instead of a bunch of little ones.  
  
“ _Yeah_ , she is,” Justine yells across the room.  
  
“Uh, _no_ , she isn’t,” Marcus yells back.  
  
“What’s going on?” Jonah asks as he takes a seat beside Amy.  
  
“We’re trying to decide whether or not Hilary Swank is hot,” Mateo informs him before turning his attention back to the argument unfolding before them.  
  
“Um—-,” Jonah starts awkwardly, “Should we really be critiquing a woman’s appearance like this? Especially in the form of public debate?”  
  
Mateo rolls his eyes.  
  
“Yeah, guys, for once, I agree with Jonah,” Amy pipes up.  
  
Jonah raises his eyebrows, starting to look smug. Amy narrows her eyes and shakes her head, giving him a look that tells him not to flatter himself. He frowns into his coffee cup.  
  
“We all think she’s _attractive_ ,” Cheyenne clarifies. “We just don’t all think she’s _hot_.”  
  
“Okay, but—-”

“Just forget it,” Amy interrupts. “They’ve having this debate for years.”  
  
“What? _Years?_ Why?”  
  
“I don’t know. Like, nine years ago, Carol got a call from her cousin in Pennsylvania who told her she’d spent the entire day arguing with her office over whether or not Hilary Swank is hot. Then Carol told us about it and we all started arguing about it. No one can ever agree. Every few years it gets brought back up again.”  
  
“Wow.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“Attention!” Glenn yells, red in the face from trying to get everyone to focus for the last few minutes, not that anyone’s noticed.  
  
“You all know Jeff,” Glenn says, gesturing to the man beside him.  
  
A couple of people murmur lackluster hellos.  
  
“Thanks for that warm welcome,” Jeff says. “Always appreciate it.”  
  
Everyone stares at him blankly.  
  
“Okay, well, let’s just get started then. Corporate wants all of the Cloud 9 stores to make commercials.”  
  
A smattering of oohs erupts around the room.  
  
“Yes, very exciting. We’ve already hired some local talent to take care of all the technical stuff but we need two of you to star in the commercial.”  
  
“Pick me!” Mateo’s hand shoots up in the air. “Pick me, pick me, pick me!”  
  
“We’re not there yet, Mateo.”  
  
Mateo slumps back down in his seat.  
  
“Corporate wants the commercials to show that we at Cloud 9 value diversity. So—-”  
  
“Hello?” Mateo says, raising his hand again. “What’s more diverse than a gay Filipino?”  
  
“I dunno, black dude in a wheelchair, maybe?” Garrett shrugs. Mateo offers him a fake smile.  
  
“Sorry, Mateo,” Jeff says. “One of the other branches has already shot a commercial with a homosexual couple.”  
  
“Which one?” Dina asks.  
  
“Uh—,” Jeff consults his clipboard. “Crestwood.”  
  
Everyone starts mumbling unkind things about the Crestwood branch.  
  
“Doesn’t matter!” Mateo says, clapping his hands together. “I can play straight.”  
  
Jeff looks over to Glenn and Dina who vigorously shake their heads no and say don’t you dare with their eyes, respectively.  
  
“See, Mateo, the thing is—-” Jeff scratches the back of his head. “Corporate wants to go in a different direction. And we’re — _they’re_ just not sure if you fit with that direction.”  
  
“What is _that_ supposed to mean?” Mateo asks.  
  
“Oh,” Cheyenne says, nodding and drawing out the word. “I get it.” She leans towards Mateo and says, in a whisper loud enough for the entire room to hear, “He’s saying you’re too gay to do it.”  
  
Mateo gasps.  
  
“That’s not what I’m saying!” Jeff says. “You’re just very —-”  
  
“Gay,” says Dina.

“ _No_ ,” Jeff insists. He obviously scrambles for a few seconds before settling on, “Effeminate.”  
  
“Effeminate?” Mateo scoffs. “Are you saying I can’t be butch? I can be butch!”

“I’m sure you can.”

“Oh, I can,” Mateo says. “And I will. You’ll see.”

Jeff pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Anyway,” Glenn says. “They asked us managers to pick some people for the commercial—-”

There’s another rumble of conversation about how unfair that is.

“And I’ve picked Jonah—-”  

“You’re looking for diversity so you pick the straight white guy? Makes total sense,” says Garrett.

“Hey! I’ve never explicitly stated my sexual identity,” says Jonah.

“Are you _not_ straight?” Garrett asks.

“I —- do not feel comfortable answering that question at this time.”

Garrett rolls his eyes.

“And Amy!” Glenn says. “I picked Amy!”

“What? Nuh-uh, no way, I am not being your token Latina,” Amy says, shaking her head.

Glenn frowns. “But Amy—”

“No, it’s not happening, Glenn.”

“What’s in it for us?” Jonah asks.

“You’re already gonna be on _television_ , do you really need anything else, Jonah?” Glenn says, a _can you believe this guy?_ expression on his face.

“You get a hundred dollar gift card for the store,” Jeff says.

“Wait—,” Amy says. “A hundred dollars?”

Jeff nods.

“Can it be used _with_ our employee discount?”

Jeff flips through the papers on his clipboard. “I don’t see anything that says it can’t...Someone really should’ve thought of that.”

“Too late now!” Amy says cheerfully. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“What happened to not being the token Latina?” Jonah asks.

“I’m a single mom. Money’s more important than my pride. Emma’s eating me out of house and home. I thought guys were the teenagers who ate everything.”

“Actually,” Jonah starts but everyone shouts “No one cares,” before he can even start talking about the realities of teenage food consumption.

“Okay, so. Amy, Jonah, you two will need to stay late tomorrow. The director prefers night shoots.”

“Of course he does.” Amy grimaces.

“Any questions?”

Jonah’s hand immediately goes up. Jeff pointedly looks at everyone but Jonah.

“No? Okay, good. See you tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

“So, you nervous?” Jonah asks Amy the next day, once majority of their coworkers have already left.  
  
“No. Why would I be?”  
  
“Just wondering. It’s not uncommon for people to get stage fright. I can help you if you need it. I was in a musical theatre troupe in high school.”  
  
“Of course you were.”  
  
Jonah frowns, starts to reply but Amy  interrupts him.  
  
“Cheyenne!” she yells, spotting the girl a few feet away and hurrying over to her. “Thank God you’re still here. The makeup lady corporate hired is some old white lady who doesn’t even have my shade.”  
  
Cheyenne studies Amy’s face. “Yeah, I can see that.”  
  
“What?” Amy laughs. “No, this is my own stuff I put on before I left the house—-. Never mind, I need your help. Let’s go,” she says and drags Cheyenne over to the makeup counter.  
  
“So,” a voice comes from behind Jonah, making him jump.  
  
“Jesus, Mateo, what are you doing? And what are you wearing?” Jonah asks, looking Mateo’s outfit up and down.  
  
He’s wearing mesh basketball shorts, an Ed Hardy t-shirt and a pair of slides. With a backwards baseball cap to top it all of.  
  
“I’m proving to _Jeff_ that I am not too “effeminate.” “  
  
“Is Jeff even here?” Jonah asks, looking around.  
   
“ _What?_ ” Mateo asks, voice like ice. “If he’s not, I am going to be so pissed.”  
  
“Anyway, good luck kissing Amy,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks away.  
  
“It’s ‘break a leg!’” Jonah calls after him. It takes him a few seconds to realize what Mateo had said. “Wait, what?”  
  
“Hey,” Amy says, sidling up to him a few minutes later.  
  
Jonah jumps. “Hey!” he yells. Amy raises her eyebrows at him.  
  
“Hey,” he says again, this time at a normal volume. “Have you, have you, um, seen the script?”  
  
“No, the director guy said he didn’t need a script.”  
  
“No script?” Jonah says, voice rising again.  
“I just mean—-. Who doesn’t use a script?”  
  
“This guy, apparently. Are you okay?” Amy says, reaching out to touch Jonah’s arm.  
  
“Fine!” Jonah says, moving away from her. “I’m fine.”  
  
“Okay,” Amy says, clearly unconvinced. “Is it the stage fright thing you were talking about?”  
  
“What?” Jonah laughs. “No, no it’s not—-. Actually, yes,” Jonah latches onto that idea, not wanting Amy to know what’s really freaking him out. “Yes, it is.”  
  
“You’ll be fine,” Amy says. “You have all the experience, remember? I’m sure you had to do improv in your musical theater class.”  
  
“Troupe,” Jonah corrects.  
  
“Okay, I am trying very hard to be supportive right now.”  
  
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
“It’s just that improv was always my least favorite activity, you know, with the improvisation of it all.”  
  
“Jonah,” Amy says sternly, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. Her eyes are so beautiful, Jonah notices, such a rich brown. And her mouth is the perfect ration, almost exactly the same size on both the top and the bottom, he didn’t even think that was possible. And the makeup she’s wearing is covering them up right now but she has the most adorable freckles sprinkled across her nose.  
  
“Jonah,” Amy says again. Right, Jonah, tells himself, focus.

“You’re going to be fine.”  
  
“Yeah, it’s fine. It’ll be fine.”  
  
Amy seems to notice she’s still touching him at the moment so she quickly punches him in the shoulder.  
  
“Ouch,” Jonah says, rubbing the spot she hit.  
  
Amy winces. “Sorry.”  
  
“Hey, you two!” A loud voice calls and Amy and Jonah turn around, coming face to face with the director.  
  
He's a small, sixty-something old man with sprouts of white hair coming out of his otherwise bald head, and he's carrying a superiority complex along with the megaphone in his hand, which he must’ve brought himself because there’s no way corporate shelled out any money for one. He’s also riding one of the mobility scooter reserved for disabled people and the elderly.  
  
“Let’s get a move on! I ain’t got all day!” He screams and then zooms away on his scooter.  
  
Amy and Jonah shrug, following him to the front of the store.  
  
“Alright, you,” the director, who has still yet to introduce himself by name, yells at Amy. “I want you there.” He points his megaphone to a spot halfway between where the vending machine sits in front of the lane and the endcap display.

“And you,” he yells at Jonah, who has now decided to refer to him as older Michael Bay  in his head. Jonah’s never met Michael Bay but he has a gut feeling that Michael Bay and this guy would get along.

“Over there!” He points to a spot a few paces away from Amy.

“Now, when I say action, I want you to smile like you love each other, start walkin’ over to one another, meet in the middle, and _kiss_!”

“I’m sorry, _what_?” Amy asks.

“Kiss, sweetheart, kiss! You know what a kiss is, don’t ya?”

“Oh my God,” Jonah says, mainly to himself, certain Amy is about to bash this guy's head in with a price scanner.

“Let’s just do it!” Jonah says, trying to focus Amy’s attention back on him and distract her from any murderous thoughts she may be having. “The sooner we do it, the sooner this’ll be over with, the sooner we never have to see this guy again.”

“Are you sure?” Amy asks, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

And well, no, Jonah’s not, it’s only been a few weeks since Kelly broke up with him because he’s “clearly still in love with Amy,” and after a few too many nights analyzing his own behavior he’d come to the reluctant agreement that yeah, he is, but he doesn’t say any of that. What he says instead is, “Sure.”

Jonah kinda hates himself sometimes.

“Okay,” Amy says. “I mean, I’m fine with it. I just wanted to make sure you were fine with it.”

“I’m totally fine with it.”

“Good. So we’re both totally fine with it.”

“Totally fine.”

“You know who’s not totally fine? Me! Not quit your yappin’ and get to smackin’!”

Amy and Jonah lock eyes and erupt into poorly concealed giggles simultaneously.

“Yes, sir!” Jonah says, once his laughing fit is over. Amy’s having a harder time recovering from hers and Jonah can’t help the fond smile that appears on his face as he watches her struggle not to laugh.

“Yes! Like that! Look at her like that!”

“What?” Jonah says, whipping his head to look at the director. The director cuts him a glare worthy of Mateo approval though so he quickly turns back around.

“Ready! Set! Action!” He calls and Jonah starts walking toward Amy, smiling awkwardly at her.

“Cut!” Older Michael Bay calls. “What are ya doin’? I said look at her like you’re in love with her not like ya got indigestion!”

“Ay, dios mío,” Amy says so that only Jonah can hear.

“Places!” Not-Michael Bay yells. “And lemme see some real action this time, capeesh?”

Jonah and Amy head back to their respected  cues, and Amy sends Jonah a commiserating look that causes a smile light up his face and his eyes to grow fond.

“That’s it! Action!” The directly says, but he sounds quieter than before. Of course, the entire world around Jonah seems to quiet whenever Amy’s around.

Jonah starts walking toward Amy, an enamored expression still on his face. He doesn’t stop this time and Amy doesn’t laugh. In fact, she’s looking at him how he imagines he’s looking at her right now. In this moment, with the quiet of the set, and her looking at him like this, he can almost imagine that this is real. They pause

With courage he doesn’t know he possess, he gently grabs her face and kisses her like he means it, the way he’s always wanted to. She gasps into his mouth but quickly recovers, bringing her hands to his waist and pulling him in closer. They’ve kissed before, for the briefest of moments, but this is different, this feels different, feels significant in a way the others didn’t.

For so long their story has been on pause, suspended in midair, obstructed by other people or their own denial. But now, with his lips on hers and his fingers in her hair, everything shifts. Jonah has always been a romantic and has always had a flair for the dramatic but he swears he can feel the change in the air.  
  
“Wow,” he says in a whisper as he reluctantly pulls away.

“Yeah,” Amy agrees.

“Finally!” The director calls and they both realize they aren’t actually alone.

“I’ve been yellin’ cut for a minute and a half.” He turns to his assistant. “This is what I get for workin’ with amateurs.”

The director starts yelling at the prop runner instead of them so Jonah shifts his attention back to Amy.

“That was...wow.”

“You said that already,” Amy says, looking pleased.

“I know but...wow.”

Jonah brings a hand to the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

“Listen, I don’t wanna presume anything but when this is over, do you wanna…” Jonah trails off, leaving the suggestion in the air.

Amy lets him suffer in silence for a few seconds before saying, “ _Yes_ , took you long enough.”

“You know, a woman can ask a guy out. I thought you were a feminist.”

“Shut up.”

Jonah goes in to kiss her again and Amy lets him.

The director throws his hands up and rides away on his scooter, cursing their names.

 

 

* * *

 

Everyone’s gathered in the break room a few days later, ready to watch a rough cut of the commercial.  
  
Glenn introduces it with more fanfare that it warrants, Cheyenne and Marcus ask questions no one knows the answers to, and Jonah keeps sending fond looks Amy’s way whenever she’s not looking. So, essentially, nothing’s changed.  
  
A loud static erupts from the TV and Jonah forces himself to pay attention to it instead of Amy’s lips.  
  
It starts with the camera showing Amy’s hands as they browse over a selection of produce, picking up a zucchini and putting it back down, then picking up an eggplant instead and putting it in her basket. The next shot is of Jonah’s arms, pulling rope off of the shelf and depositing it into his cart. Back and forth it goes, showing Amy picking up some store brand K-Y, then a close up of Jonah sniffing various scented duct tape, and back to Amy getting condoms in the biggest size the store carries. By the time they both reach the front of the store, they’ve collected an eggplant, KY jelly, scented duct tape, extra large condoms, rope, a 2001 Nickelback CD, a hockey mask, a turkey baster, and a disposable camera.  
  
They round the corner of their respective aisles and meet each other’s eyes. A soft smile appears on Amy’s face. Jonah smiles back as he starts walking towards her. They meet in the middle, still smiling, and kiss before even saying a word.  
  
They head toward an open cash register and start putting their haul onto the conveyor belt. The cashier smiles at them pleasantly, no trace of judgment in her eyes. The scene cuts away from them and to an outside shot of Glenn standing in front of the store.  
  
“Cloud 9,” Glenn says, grinning. “God may judge you but we won’t!”  
  
Then it cuts to black.  
  
For once, there’s complete silence in the break room.  
  
“I—” Jeff starts. “I don’t know what I expected.”  
  
Everyone takes Jeff’s words as a cue to start talking again.  
  
“When did Glenn even shoot that?” Jonah asks Amy.  
  
“I have no idea.”  
  
“Probably while you two were boning,” Dina pipes up.  
  
“Dina!” Amy scolds.  
  
“You already told her?” Jonah asks Amy, incredulous.  
  
“C’mon,” Amy scoffs. “Like you didn’t text Garrett the minute it was over.”  
  
“I didn’t!” Jonah insists.  
  
Amy looks to Garrett for confirmation. Garrett shrugs.  
  
“He could have. I wouldn’t know, I stopped opening his texts months ago.”  
  
Jonah turns his incredulous stare on Garrett. “What if I needed you? What if there was an emergency?”  
  
Garrett pointedly looks down at his wheelchair.  
  
Jonah purses his lips, looking like he desperately wants to say something but is refraining from doing so in order to be unproblematic.  
  
“I think I’m gonna quit,” Jeff says, mostly to himself.  
  
“Yeah,” he says, nodding. “I’m gonna quit.” He puts his clipboard down on the counter and takes off his blazer, loosens his tie.  
  
“Bye, everyone,” he calls as he walks out. “Nice seeing you.”  
  
Jeff turns around again once he’s at the door.

“Actually, no it wasn’t. Most of you are horrible at your jobs and I never want to see you again.”  
  
Justine’s mouth drops open. Sandra nods like she gets where he’s coming from.  
  
“Except you, Mateo. You can call me.”  
  
Mateo preens under the attention.  
  
“Okay,” Jeff looks around the room one last time. “Bye.”  
  
“Wow,” Jonah says once it’s been a few seconds and Jeff hasn’t come back.  
  
There’s a few murmurs of agreement and then everyone is talking over each other.  
  
“Did you guys really hook up?” Cheyenne asks Amy excitedly.  
  
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to discuss—-”

“Who cares?” Mateo interrupts Amy. “Did you guys hear that? Jeff said I can call him. What do you think that means?”

“Probably that you should call him,” Jonah replies.  

Mateo scoffs. “Please, Jonah, as if I’m gonna take relationship advice from _you_ ”  
  
Jonah starts to defend himself but Amy shakes her head in a way that tells him not to bother so he backs down.  
  
With the attention focused on someone other than them, Jonah focuses on Amy.  
  
“Well, at least one good thing came out of this,” he says, in such a way that it makes the faintest blush arise on Amy’s cheeks.  
  
“Shut up,” she says, but she’s smiling.  
  
“What?” Jonah asks, widening his eyes in order to look innocent. “I’m really happy Mateo can call Jeff.”  
  
“I’m breaking up with you.”  
  
“Is it breaking up if we haven’t even officially gotten together yet?”  
  
“Doesn’t matter. Still dumping you.”  
  
“Get a room, you two!” Dina yells.  
  
“And we were worried things would change,” says Jonah.    
  
Amy smiles but the smiles slides off her face as Marcus plops down onto a chair beside her.  
  
“So, did you guys do it or what? Gimme the deets. Or, better yet, do you have photos and can I take them home with me?”  
  
“I’m starting to think Jeff had the right idea,” Amy says to Jonah.  
  
“Yeah, me too. We should get out of here, go on the floor or something, at least.”  
  
They get up to leave and Jonah’s arm hovers awkwardly around her shoulders before placing a gentle palm on her back.  
  
The entire room aws.  
  
“Nobody awed for me and Jeff,” Mateo says, desperate to get the attention back on him. “You’re all homophobes. Homophobes!”  
  
Nobody pays him any attention.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, that is a reference to _The Office_ episode "Prince Family Paper" in the beginning. I just couldn't resist, especially since Justin Spitzer worked on _The Office_ for so long. Brownie points for you if you got it!


End file.
